Farewell to E6 film?

I think the reporting of my death is a little premature! I think the same goes for E6 film....

I think the reporting of my death is a little premature! I think the same could be said for E6 film! It has been reported in the British Journal of Photography (March 2010) that E6 film is on its last legs. With Kodak ending the run of Ektachrome 64T and Ektachrome 100 Plus stock. The remaining stock of 100 Plus should run out by the Summer. It also noted that some UK processing agents are stopping their processing of E6 due to the falling numbers of films being sent in for processing!

I seem to remember this being the case of Super 8 film a few years back and rather than sink it made a triumphant return as film makers instead of paying millions to get that retro look started using real retro film! The market and the number of new film stocks has grown for Super 8 as a result. Maybe this will happen to E6 even though I can’t really see a problem for E6 as I’ve contacted the two companies I send my E6 film off too (when I don’t do it myself!) and they are saying their numbers are on the increase and this is down to the people here on sites like this!

What the British Journal of Photography has forgotten is that people like us don’t seem to count in their view as we are not real photographers how can we be with cheap plastic cameras! We also don’t send our films to be processed within an inch of their life and pay through the nose to do so! We like the rough and the ready we don’t mind if the film is old, we don’t mind if a picture is not perfect. We don’t photoshop everything so that’s it’s no longer analogue. We don’t really care about digital. We care about film and the use of that film! (ooooo… i’m on a roll!)

E6 is a long way off dead and while there is film out there we will use it. We will also fight to keep that stock alive, Take a look at the Impossible Project and their fight to bring back ‘Instant Film’. The pictures i’ve posted with this rant have all been taken with E6 and i’ve loads of others I could have posted. The colours in these pictures if not taken using E6 film could only be added with photoshop! Which would you prefer…….. I know where I stand!

it will be a while and the market will change but we will have to see! It also depends on the new laws being brought in about the use of processing chemicals! These have not been decided as yet but this may also be a factor.....

my local lab stopped doing E6 processing at the end of last summer. I know post my Slide film to Peak Imaging in Sheffield. I still take my C-41 to my local lab though, they're awesome. E6 is in no way dead.

thanks for the comment on my blog entry.... If we use E6 they can't take it aay from us.... Fuji are looking at the situation but with Kodak stopping production.... they should see an increase in sales!

I think Fuji will take up the slack! just read the article in the press..... they are really negative about E6, they don't have a clue about the following film has here on sites like this.... they can stick their £1000+ digital cameras up their 'A$@e' the whole magazine is full of high end cameras anyway most ..... well nearly all of them digital! don't they understand its themselves who are killing film...... 'BPJ' my arse!

i think it's all bollocks, film is far from dead. With Kodak actually bringing out 4x5 and 8x10 versions of their Ektar negative film and the strength of people continuously shooting Fuji Slides and Kodak Slides it's all crazy talk. There is still a market for the format. So let's keep loading our cameras with those awesome chromes and show them all!!

it's been a long time since I last used Ektachrome or Fujichrome! And then I read that they are discontinuing it. I first heard about lomo thru a friend's posts. so I googled and here I am. I dug out an old Konica Rangefinder 1/2 frame and just finished running a roll of Kodak B&W C41 thru it. Also bought a roll of Ektachrome (Elite Chrome) -- better than nothing! Cross-Processing first heard about it here!
Remember the song? Don't take my Kodachrome away! They did!

you're totally right, it might all slump for a bit now but that'll just increase demand for the service. i read that article too and totally wasn't convinced. i get it that digital has taken some people away from E6 and negs in general but it was just one guy in that article who gave e6 "months" to live. to be honest i think maybe his business just doesn't want to offer the service any more because of the hassle of chems and all that. on the opposite page, like @mattydk said, kodak are bringing out more sheet film negs, so kodak and fuji have gotta be aware that there's a really healthy market to serve out there, like everyone on here for a start. kodak maybe not so, but fuji definately seem a smart company, they'll keep us going for a while.

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